So why do I do it? Why leave my comfort zone of moderate A-line skirts and dresses to sail out into the choppy waters of the unknown? The answer is easy. The most superficial look at my output from last year's Self-Stitched-September could bore everyone to sobs. Too many skirts and A-line as far as the eye can see. It took me years to arrive at this look. It is comfortable, compatible with cycling and fairly flattering. Nevertheless, I could do with some variety. This is why I jumped at the June challenge. It is perhaps to be expected that some of the experiments fail, but I shall persevere. I have already cut out Vogue 1179 and a muslin for Burda 05/2011, 120. If they do not work out there is still Vogue 1234 which I stupidly bought without reading the small print, i.e.: no above waist adjustment. Well, we shall see.

Samstag, 11. Juni 2011

Here it is, my first Portfolio dress, but I'm sure it will not be the last. Mr. Eskapade gave it the thumbs up and took some photos. In real life the fabric is not quite as drab as on the photo. It has a very fine stripe of light grey and fawn. So instead of a contrast I made the little square and the neckband with the stripes crosswise.Hier ist mein erstes "Portfolio"-Kleid, aber ich bin sicher, es wir nicht das letzte sein. Herrn Eskapade hat es gefallen und er hat Photos gemacht. Im wahren Leben ist der Stoff nicht so regenwolkengrau, er hat feine Streifen in hellgrau und rehbraun. Statt eines Kontrasts habe ich einfach die Streifen quer genommen.

The next version will be a tunic lenght from this linen:
Die nächste Version wird eine Tunika aus diesem Leinen:

The warp is navy blue and the weft is a light brown. I had seen this fabric while notion shopping and fell in love with it, but had no idea what to make of it. The other day I had some time to spare between a not so nice dentist appointment and work and I felt I had to pamper myself and I remembered this linen and just had to have it. Then only a couple of bolts away I saw this lovely red. It is 90% cotton and 10% polyamide. It seems the polyamide covers the wrong side completly like a black veil and it shimmers through on the right side. I had to buy it although I have no idea what will become of it.Die Kette ist dunkelblau und der Schuss hellbraun. Den Stoff hatte ich schon gesehen, als ich Zutaten gekauft hatte und mich in ihn verliebt, wusste aber nicht, was ich damit anfangen will. Vor ein paar Tagen, als ich nach einem nicht so tollen Zahnarzttermin noch etwas Zeit hatte, fiel er mir wieder ein und ich musste ihn einfach haben. Nur ein paar Ballen weiter habe ich dieses wundervolle Rot gesehen. Es ist 90% Baumwolle und 10% Polyamid. Das Polyamid verhüllt die linke Seite wie ein Schleier und schimmert auf der rechten Seite durch. Den musste ich kaufen, obwohl ich keine Ahnung habe, was daraus wird.

Certainly not my fifth idea for the June-Challenge. It is in the June Burda and it is a knit - the Blumarine wrap dress... Today Yesterday I copied the patterns of this dress and the other Burda dress I plan to make this month.Bestimmt nicht meine fünfte Idee für die Juni-Herausforderung. Die ist in der Juni-Burda und aus Wirkware - das Blumarine Wickelkleid... Heute Gestern habe ich die Schnitte für dieses Kleid und das andere Burdakleid, das ich diesen Monat nähen will, kopiert.

I know, I know, just a wrap dress, they have been around for ages and this one has sleeves which will forever find their way into the soup or a particularly virulent tomato sauce, but it took my fancy anyway, perhaps it is the collar.Ich weiß, ich weiß, es ist einfach ein Wickelkleid wie es sie seit Ewigkeiten gibt und dieses hat auch noch Ärmel mit Zielvorrichtung für Suppenschüsseln und besonders lebhafte Tomatensaucen, aber irgendwie hat es mich angesprochen, vielleicht ist es der Kragen.

Montag, 6. Juni 2011

Recently I browsed the style.com site and found the inspiration of the Ralph Rucci Pattern. So I post them both for comparison. I think there are worlds between the original and the Vogue interpretation. And I bet there is no cute little knot at the back. And are the Vogue sleeves a little smaller? The original may have more of an edge, but perhaps that is largely a matter of material and styling.Kürzlich habe ich mir style.com angesehen und die Inspiration für den Vogueschnitt. Hier beide zum Vergleich. Liegen nicht Welten zwischen den beiden Versionen? Und ich wette, dass bei Rucci kein niedlicher kleiner Knoten den Rücken ziert. Und sind die Vogue-Ärmel schmaler? Das Original scheint weniger lieblich, aber das ist wohl eine Frage des Stoffes und des Styling.

Sonntag, 29. Mai 2011

I must be a disgrace, because from the outset, I plan to cheat. No stretch of the imagination will stretch far enough to make one of my projects an actual summer dress. Even worse, I plan on wearing it as a house coat.
Here it is, the magnificent Ralph Chado Rucci V1239. I live in fear of the exploded cushion look and it might just be possible that this dress will bring it about. On the other hand it is so lovely that I just have to attempt it. So I plan using material that I ordered over the internet recently and it wasn't quite what I expected.Es ist beschämend, aber wahr, ich habe mir von vornherein vorgenommen zu schummeln. Nichts wird aus einem meiner geplanten Kleider ein Sommerkleid machen. Schlimmer noch, ich habe vor, es als Hausmantel zu tragen. Hier ist es, das großartige Ralph Chado Rucci Kleid. Ich habe Angst, darin wie ein aufgeplatztes Kissen auszusehen, deshalb werde ich es aus einem Internet-Stoff machen, der überhaupt nicht meinen Erwartungen entsprach.

Next up is the viral Portfolio Dress by Lisette. If I can manage it, I'd like to make two versions of this. One tunic length from an old threadbare 50ies dress of my mothers' that I mistreated beyond repair when I wore it in the 80ies and in a dress length. Didyoumakethat says about this dress:

Most important fact of all: this loose, comfortable tunic does not look like maternity wear. It’s actually a very flattering shape. Phew!

For the 4th dress I'm undecided. Vogue 1179 has been in the pipeline for quite some time. But the summers in my neck of the woods do not always deliver, so I need sleeves. And the more I look at this dress, the less I like the back. I'd much prefer some shaping there.Beim 4. Kleid bin ich unentschlossen. Vogue 1179 ist seit einiger Zeit in Planung. Aber der Sommer in meiner Gegend liefert nicht immer Sommer, also brauche ich Ärmel. Und je länger ich das Kleid ansehe, desto weniger gefällt mir die Rückenpartie, da hätte ich gern mehr Form.

Another option for dress 4 might be either of my two favorite vintage patterns, but I'm not sure which one it would be and both still don't fit perfectly.Eine andere Möglichkeit für das vierte Kleid wäre einer meiner beiden Lieblings-Vintage-Schnitte, aber welcher? Und perfekt passen beide irgendwie nicht.

Dienstag, 14. September 2010

Should we be dressing to enhance good and counteract bad moods? Yes! Unfortunately on day 13 of self-stitched September I certainly did not follow my own good advice. Even my self stitched knickers were grey, albeit made from a luxury grey Pucci rayon knit.

Then again, I'm still very happy with the skirt. It is Burda 09/2003, no. 116. While the yoke is cut on the grainline, the body of the skirt is on the bias. This gives more freedom of movement which I need for cycling.

Mittwoch, 8. September 2010

DAY 6 / 6. TAG
A surprisingly blue-skyed and warm day, so I thought: last chance for my lavender linen wrap skirt this year. The Pattern is Butterick 3457 from 1994. This is one of my TNT patterns. Over the years I think I had at least 10 skirts derived from this pattern. My second self-stitched item for this day is one of the invisibles, for the t-shirt and cardigan are RTW.

DAY 7 / 7. TAG
The penny dropped and I had to realize that a wobbly yoga block is no substitute for a tripod. The resulting photos are so hazily out of focus. Anyway the top is another Vogue 8509 (seen on day 5 in red). The skirt is Patrones 268, 22 with a most photogenic peacock design. I'm not sure I like the quality of this cotton stretch twill, but the colour scheme is so versatile.

DAY 8 / 8. TAG
Oh, the light was so bad this morning. The fabric of this dress is great, supple with great stretch (again, no zip) a pity about the colour - a frightful maroon that clashes both with dark brown and my favorite eggplant. It is Vogue 8509 from 2008. Seen here with one of my standard t-shirts, a hand-rolled crepe chiffon scarf, refashioned knee length men's socks.

The most recent variation is the nightie. I started making these last year when I finally rejected old and tattered XL t-shirts as my nighttime attire. They were good projects to practice using my newish serger. The leggings are also self-stitched.

And here is day 3. I shall have to edit this post to tell you which pattern I used for this dress. Because the sun was smothered by clouds immediately after I took this photograph I needed to add lots of woolly things. The legwarmers from day 2. A jacket that will have its blogging premiere some other day and these...

You see McCall's 5656, and a pair of wristwarmers. You can guess at a t-shirt. You will have to believe one of my standard knickers (I shall attempt to give them some more digital reality during the month).
Plus a bought cashmere t-shirt and tights.

The dress is for covering my nighties (all self-stitched simple t-shirt like things) when receiving parcels or going on quick shopping expeditions on my off days. It is a somewhat sheer linen, underlined with a lovely dark brown lawn, but I don't like myself in it, makes me unneccessarily big, I think. It can only get better?

Donnerstag, 26. August 2010

... according to Onion. And because recently I have not done nearly as much sewing as I would like, I thought I'd point you to this gem.
...laut Onion. Und weil ich in letzter Zeit so viel weniger genäht habe, als ich wollte, wollte ich Euch wenigstens dieses Kleinod nicht vorenthalten.

And doesn't all this call for a post on the irresistible temptations of Lycra? Would the invention of Lycra a little earlier in the 20th century have changed the course of history? Or at least the way my father was brought up?Schreit all das nicht geradezu nach einem Blogpost über die unwiderstehlichen Versuchungen von Elasthan? Hätte die Erfindung von Elasthan ein bisschen früher im 20. Jahrhundert den Lauf der Geschichte verändert? Oder wenigstens die Erziehung meines Vaters?